An Engine for School-Based Mental Health Innovation
We identify, incubate, and scale prevention-focused solutions that shift school culture and drive systems change.
Our Belief
The youth mental health crisis is an inner pandemic. The solution isn’t more reactive services — it’s prevention, belonging, and culture change.
What works on paper often fails in practice. That’s why we start by listening directly to schools, understanding their realities, and funding what works in the classroom, not just in theory.
The Urgent Need in NYC
900,000 students rely on NYC public schools.
Some schools have just one social worker for 3,000 students.
73% live at or below the poverty line.
The problem isn’t a lack of funding - it’s a misalignment of funding. Too often, investments are fragmented, politically expedient, and reactive. The result: we fail to stop the crisis before it starts.
What We Do
We act as NYC’s independent R&D lab for school-based mental health.
Our five-step approach:
Assess Needs
Incubate & Pilot
Evaluate Rigorously
Develop Blueprints
Advocate for Policy Shifts
South Bronx Incubator
We launched our first incubator in District 9, South Bronx, one of the most challenging districts in the city. If a program can succeed here, it can succeed anywhere.
Built on deep trust with school leaders, this incubator will generate the insights and evidence needed to drive citywide change.
Your donation fuels innovation that reshapes NYC school mental health.